Main menu

Monthly Archives: June 2008

Post navigation

Los Angeles City Controller Laura Chick served a subpoena Thursday morning on City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo for records on the workers’ compensation program managed by his office. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

The subpoena steps up a fight over whether the city controller has the right to audit the offices of elected officials.

Chick says she can; Delgadillo says she can’t.

Frustrated by the internal struggle, Chick took her complaint public.

“The people of Los Angeles have a right to know how their government spends their hard-earned tax dollars,” Chick said during a press conference Thursday.

Seeking billions of dollars to relieve Los Angeles County from constant gridlock, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority moved Thursday toward putting a half-percent sales tax before voters in November.Sue Doyle in the Daily News.

The Metro board agreed to draft an ordinance to implement the sales-tax measure, expected to generate $30 billion to $40 billion over 30 years. If approved by two-thirds of county voters, it will bump the county sales tax to 8.75 percent – tying it with Alameda County for the highest sales tax in California.

Also, Metro officials will draft a list of transportation projects, from subways to highway widening, that could be funded by the measure. The board returns to the table July 24 to discuss the list and to vote whether to put the sales tax on the ballot.

Anti-gang tax
Taking the first official step toward asking Angelenos to approve a parcel tax to fund anti-gang programs, a City Council panel on Thursday asked for a draft of the measure that would raise $30 million a year. Daiily News.

The Ad Hoc Committee on Gang Violence and Youth Development approved the measure, which now must go to the full City Council for consideration before it can be placed on the Nov. 4 ballot. It would need approval by two-thirds of voters.

In a blow to activists against illegal immigration, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge upheld the LAPD’s Special Order 40, which limits when officers can ask about immigration status. Rachel Uranga in the Daily News.

In his ruling, Judge Rolf M. Treu found that the conservative Judicial Watch, which brought the suit on behalf of a Los Angeles taxpayer, failed to show that the policy conflicted with federal law that prohibits restrictions on state and local police from communicating with immigration officials.

“This is good news,” LAPD Chief William Bratton said. “It is an essential tool and continues to be an essential tool of the Los Angeles Police Department.”

California’s attorney general sued Countrywide Financial Corp. and its top two executives on Wednesday, claiming that the company used deceptive practices to push borrowers into risky mortgages. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

The law suit, filed by Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr., asserts that Countrywide became a mass-production loan factory, churning out ever-increasing streams of debt without regard for borrowers.

“Countrywide exploited the American dream of homeownership and then sold its mortgages for huge profits on the secondary market,” Attorney General Brown said. “The company sold ever-increasing numbers of complex and risky home loans, as quickly as possible.”

City activists and officials across the county are expected to battle before the Metro board today over billions of dollars worth of transit projects and a proposed half-percent sales tax to help pay for them. Sue Doyle in the Daily News.

As the Metropolitan Transportation Authority shapes the region’s latest long-range plan, San Fernando Valley activists hope to snag hundreds of millions of dollars to ease the area’s worsening congestion.

They are pushing for an extension of the Red Line subway to Bob Hope Airport, more car-pool lanes on the Ventura Freeway and new funds to run city buses in Burbank, among other projects.